Cameron’s unqualified teacher policy delivers 16 per cent rise in unqualified teachers in our schools

·  David Cameron has changed the rules and is allowing schools to permanently employ unqualified teachers – this harms standards.

·   The number of unqualified teachers across all publically-funded schools has risen under David Cameron. Today’s figures show the number has soared by 16% in the last year alone.

·   Across academies and Free Schools, the number of unqualified teachers has risen by 50 per cent in the last year.

Responding to the publication of the DfE’s School Workforce Survey revealing a 16 per cent rise in unqualified teachers in the past year, Labour’s Shadow Education Secretary Tristram Hunt MP said:

“David Cameron has changed the rules, allowing unqualified teachers into the classroom on a permanent basis. His decision has seen a 16 per cent rise in unqualified teachers in our classrooms.

“The evidence from the best performing school systems around the world shows us that the quality of teaching makes the biggest difference to raising school standards.

“Parents rightly want the best for their children – so it is shocking that David Cameron is damaging school standards by making entry requirements into teaching in this country amongst the lowest in world. That is why Labour would scrap David Cameron’s unqualified teacher policy and insist on a qualified teacher in every classroom.”

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